Director's Update

July - August 2012

Dr. Kevin Fenton
Director, NCHHSTP

We are partners in our prevention work at home and abroad. What we accomplish here in the United States and what we accomplish in countries across the globe work synergistically to move our efforts forward to achieve a healthier world. As we welcome the world to the United States this summer for the XIX International AIDS Conference, we have a rare opportunity to revive a national and a global sense of urgency, of collaboration, of vision, and of hope to change the course of HIV and that of our other focus diseases. It is the collective engagement of our research and science, of our communities and leadership that give rise to meaningful actions that mobilize our strategies and our science to address the complexity of the diseases we work to prevent. I invite each of you to continue to help raise awareness, fight stigma, find ways to increase health equity, and work toward solutions to obstacles in all of our prevention efforts.

About AIDS 2012

On July 22, Washington, D.C. will welcome almost 25,000 attendees to the XIX International AIDS Conference, the world’s largest gathering of professionals working in the field of HIV—including people living with HIV and leaders from other disciplines such as policy makers, educators, and care providers. This conference helps shape our global response to HIV and helps ensure the best in science, leadership, and community. Overall goals include raising awareness of the continued impact of HIV/AIDS and our other focus diseases in the United States and internationally; demonstrating CDC’s comprehensive leadership in research and evidence-based programming; sharing the High-Impact Prevention approach and goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy; and highlighting progress, new opportunities, and remaining challenges in combatting the epidemic, including increasing the visibility of prevention needs and solutions for priority populations. Please visit CDC’s AIDS 2012 site for more information.

Partnership for Clinical and Programmatic TB Research in Botswana

CDC’s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, the Botswana Ministry of Health, and the U.S. Agency for International Development established the BOTUSA project to strengthen tuberculosis (TB) control in Botswana. The Isoniazid Prevention Therapy Trial (IPT) is one result of this collaboration. Since TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV (PLHIV) worldwide, treatment to prevent TB in this population is crucial. The trial found that, compared with 6 months of IPT, 36 months of IPT reduced TB incidence by 74% among PLHIV. In view of these findings, WHO guidelines now recommend that PLHIV in settings with a high transmission of TB, who also have a positive TB skin test, receive IPT for 36 months.

New from CDC

NCHHSTP 2011 Annual Report

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Results, 2011

HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report

Upcoming Events

On the Web

CDC @ AIDS 2012 Web site